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Given without competition, July 2026
A direct award is a contract placed with one supplier without competition. July's largest, with each buyer's own rate of using the route.
· figures as at the date of writing
2,072 UK public contracts were awarded without competition in July 2026.
Across the corpus, 64,456 of 581,046 notices that record a route to market were direct awards: 11.1%. Over the last 24 months the figure is 20.6%.
Direct awards are lawful where there is genuine urgency, where one supplier alone can deliver, or where existing work is extended. The feeds record that a contract was direct-awarded. They do not reliably carry the justification, so none of the figures below indicate whether an award was properly made.
National Timing Centre — £180,000,000
National Timing Centre Delivery Programme, published 16 July by the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology, awarded to NPL Management Limited. July’s largest direct award.
The notice describes building and operating a centre to provide “a resilient, terrestrial, sovereign, sustainable, and high-quality Timing Signal” — timing infrastructure independent of GPS. NPL Management Limited operates the National Physical Laboratory, the UK’s national measurement institute, which is owned by the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology.
DSIT recorded a route to market on 180 notices. 79 were direct awards: 43.9%, against a national rate of 11.1%.
Google Ads — £5,000,000
Transport for Wales awarded Google UK Limited £5,000,000 on 23 July for “Google Ads advertising services via a direct arrangement with Google”. The notice states the arrangement lets Transport for Wales “manage advertising directly with Google and improve efficiency”.
Google Ads inventory is sold by Google. Resellers and media agencies place the buying, and buy the inventory from Google.
Transport for Wales recorded a route to market on 60 notices. 28 were direct awards: 46.7%.
Richmond Day Services — £17,947,125
Richmond Day Services, published 24 July by the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, awarded to St Augustine’s Community Care Trust.
The notice covers “day services for adults with eligible care needs namely services supporting older people with complex needs and working age adults with neurological conditions”. It carries no stated justification for the route.
Richmond recorded a route to market on 47 notices. 7 were direct awards: 14.9%.
Also in July
| contract | buyer | supplier | value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Air and Naval countermeasures | Defence Equipment and Support | Chemring Countermeasures | £95,000,000 |
| Provision of SITAWARE | Ministry of Defence | Systematic Software Engineering | £76,571,200 |
| Cadent Gas mains diversion for the Lower Thames Crossing | National Highways | Cadent Gas | £44,700,000 |
| Fire Control Battlefield Information System | Defence Equipment and Support | CGI | £42,700,000 |
| Highways Structures Programme | Cheshire west and Chester Borough Council | Amey OW | £21,000,000 |
The Ministry of Defence recorded a route to market on 10,222 notices. 1,089 were direct awards: 10.7%.
Running totals, ranked by each buyer’s share of its own activity, are on contracts awarded without competition.
Figures as at 16 August 2026. Values are as published and exclude anything flagged as a framework ceiling; see why you cannot add up contract values. Source notices from Contracts Finder, Find a Tender, Public Contracts Scotland and Sell2Wales under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Corrections and additional context: contact.